(2026) - C Arafan Diane to Houston

[Demo]

1 minute ago, mike vannice said:

Abdullah Ahmed is down to Houston and BYU?

Yes. Very poorly phrased on my part. Will fix.

[mike vannice]

Hey no problem-love the information. Just making sure we weren't out on Diane.

You had mentioned  his fit in CDD's offense not sure I see it either . Is he a younger less experienced version of Oumar Ballo? or what am I missing?

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Possibly the key to the Diane recruitment.

G-League center Abdullah Ahmed has cut his list to two schools — Houston and BYU, he told @Rivals. The 6-10 big man has scheduled official visits to each of his finalists and plans to announce his commitment on November 10th.

[Home Jersey]

2 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Possibly the key to the Diane recruitment.

G-League center Abdullah Ahmed has cut his list to two schools — Houston and BYU, he told @Rivals. The 6-10 big man has scheduled official visits to each of his finalists and plans to announce his commitment on November 10th.

FWIW his BYU visit is Nov 7-9. 

[Demo]

2 hours ago, mike vannice said:

Hey no problem-love the information. Just making sure we weren't out on Diane.

You had mentioned  his fit in CDD's offense not sure I see it either . Is he a younger less experienced version of Oumar Ballo? or what am I missing?

Physically, Ballo’s a pretty fair comp, except Diane looks naturally even a little bigger. Really can’t wait to see him up close in January. Watched a Border League game of his the other night and his conditioning is gonna need to get miles better to be any sort of rim runner. But what was pretty eye opening about that game was just watching him shoot it in warmups. He’s got this weird sort of Robert Parish-style release way up over his head and a little back of where you’d normally see it, it’s literally unblockable, and he made everything. Probably took 15 shots all the way out to 3 and didn’t miss. Then in the game he made a couple around 15’, a couple of jump hooks, straight bullied the poor kid trying to guard him into a dunk and then just yapped at him. Made a couple of nice passes. He doesn’t look that skilled, except he is. If you bring him in you’re gonna run stuff for him because you just have to. He’s too big and strong and the stroke is weird but pure and nobody in college is gonna guard him. Turning him into just a roll man would be wasting him. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Travis Branham says it's between us and Houston.  Expects a decision mid-November.

[Demo]

13 minutes ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Travis Branham says it's between us and Houston.  Expects a decision mid-November.

Ahmed, the G-League kid, is planning to announce 11/10. Visiting Houston this weekend and BYU next weekend. 

[Home Jersey]

2 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

Travis Branham says it's between us and Houston.  Expects a decision mid-November.

Thanks for sharing. Very hopeful...

I had seen previous reporting that he planned to announce 11/9. Wonder if that counts as mid-November or if the timeline has been pushed back a bit. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Sam Kayser says Diane will announce on Nov. 19, which is his birthday as well as the last day of the early signing period

[dwtaylor1055]

with missing on Thompson, we are now able to add a few dollars to the pot for guys like Diane.  Signs are pointing towards Karvala going with IU in the coming days.  A class of Moody(guard), Karvala(small forward) and Diane(center) would be very good imo.  Checks three positions off, can bring in other positions of need via transfer portal.  

 

[ziggyiu]

From my outside perspective, I could see paying more for Diane as he's at a greater position of need with rare similar talent--and he is more likely to stay at IU multiple years--compared to Anthony Thompson. 

[8bucks]

On 10/24/2025 at 6:17 PM, Demo said:

Physically, Ballo’s a pretty fair comp, except Diane looks naturally even a little bigger. Really can’t wait to see him up close in January. Watched a Border League game of his the other night and his conditioning is gonna need to get miles better to be any sort of rim runner. But what was pretty eye opening about that game was just watching him shoot it in warmups. He’s got this weird sort of Robert Parish-style release way up over his head and a little back of where you’d normally see it, it’s literally unblockable, and he made everything. Probably took 15 shots all the way out to 3 and didn’t miss. Then in the game he made a couple around 15’, a couple of jump hooks, straight bullied the poor kid trying to guard him into a dunk and then just yapped at him. Made a couple of nice passes. He doesn’t look that skilled, except he is. If you bring him in you’re gonna run stuff for him because you just have to. He’s too big and strong and the stroke is weird but pure and nobody in college is gonna guard him. Turning him into just a roll man would be wasting him. 

Would he tend to clog up the lane?

[Home Jersey]

31 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

Would he tend to clog up the lane?

I am sure Demo will have a much more informed response for you, but based on his highlights, I don't think so. 

He only started playing basketball 5 years ago. His game has grown tremendously in a short period.

U16 Africa FIBA championship, don't think he has a highlight shooting from further than the foul line. Flashes some budding skills with a little nice ball handling/passing, but still getting a feel for the game... he's also by far the biggest guy on the court. (2 years ago)

vs.

2026 C Arafan Diane DOMINATES at Adidas 3SSB Palmetto Road Championship (can't embed the video because the YouTube title has emojis in it)

 

On the Adidas circuit, the difference is obvious. He shows way more skill/polish on both sides of the ball and looks like he moves really well for his size. Oh yeah, he's still pretty much always the biggest guy on the court. Lol

Like Demo said, his conditioning will need to continue improving. But he's so talented any team would run stuff for him IMO. 

I think he'd be a great fit in DDV's system and I hope we back up the truck for him. I genuinely wonder how he views the basketball situation between Houston and Indiana. I assume it's hard to say no to Sampson's track record with bigs. But, also sounds like we're offering more $$ with a clearer path to a star role.

[Demo]

10 hours ago, 8bucks said:

Would he tend to clog up the lane?

Wouldn’t think so. They’ve gotten Alexis a fair number of post looks in the exhibition games and he’s stopped the ball some, but Diane is a completely different animal. Haven’t watched any WVU games from last year but I feel pretty confident DDV had a package designed to get Hansberry post touches. And if Diane isn’t a fully conventional fit for what he wants to do I would guess they’ve looked at him and they just don’t care. Would bet in a full season of college games he wouldn’t run into 5 kids with any chance to guard him without help. So as long as he can make good post reads he’ll get other kids open looks. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Tipton did another update.  Premium but it appears like most expect we trail Houston for Diane. Can anyone confirm?

[OGIUAndy]

5 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Tipton did another update.  Premium but it appears like most expect we trail Houston for Diane. Can anyone confirm?

 

[Stuhoo]

Ethan Taylor's odds for IU rising? That would be counter-narrative.

In any event, if we pulled Prince A-M, Karvala, and either of these two centers it would be a very very strong recruiting class.

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Everything I've seen over the last 7-10 days indicates we've focused on Diane and not Ethan Taylor.  DDV met with Diane last week and I've not seen anything that we've made a recent personal contact with Taylor.

[Home Jersey]

I'd assume the Tipton tweet is referring to Karvala. Highly doubt Grok has On3 premium access to read and summarize the article lol. Suppose I could be wrong but I doubt it given the well documented hallucinations Grok has a penchant for. With Karvala announcing soon, makes more sense to me than Taylor. 

So Tipton thinks we trail for Diane and Branham basically called it IU or UH, I think  

[AH1971]

57 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Ethan Taylor's odds for IU rising? That would be counter-narrative.

In any event, if we pulled Prince A-M, Karvala, and either of these two centers it would be a very very strong recruiting class.

Article states that IU is heavy leader for Karvala and that IU has shifted their focus from Taylor to Diane. Tipton believes Houston has been leading for Diane since the summer but the Hoosiers have made steady ground this fall and are a true contender.